PlayStation 4's Memory Allocations Detailed

News of space reserved in the PlayStation 4's 8GB DDR5 memory for the operating system has been released. But exactly how much memory will it take up and how much memory is reserved for games?

According to EuroGamer, 5GB of RAM will be reserved for game developers to use for their games, 4.5GB of which is conventional memory and about 512MB of OS-controlled flexible memory.

A statement from Sony regarding the matter reads:

We would like to clear up a misunderstanding regarding our "direct" and "flexible" memory systems. The article states that "flexible" memory is borrowed from the OS, and must be returned when requested - that's not actually the case.

The actual true distinction is that:

"Direct Memory" is memory allocated under the traditional video game model, so the game controls all aspects of its allocation

"Flexible Memory" is memory managed by the PS4 OS on the game's behalf, and allows games to use some very nice FreeBSD virtual memory functionality. However this memory is 100 per cent the game's memory, and is never used by the OS, and as it is the game's memory it should be easy for every developer to use it.

We have no comment to make on the amount of memory reserved by the system or what it is used for.

It remains to be seen what the rest of the PlayStation 4's RAM will be used for, but it will most likely be reserved for its non-gaming apps. Still, 3GB of RAM to run apps sounds a bit too beefy. We'll update you with more information about the system's memory as it's made available.

In the meantime, let us know your thoughts on the PlayStation 4's memory allocation by commenting down below.